


The Queen in Her Castle

by WriteItSmall (scribblemyname)



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Kings & Queens, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 19:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20179474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/pseuds/WriteItSmall
Summary: "I love you," he said so easily, pierced her with his words, piercing the mask of years and necessities, of royalty.





	The Queen in Her Castle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ConvenientAlias](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/gifts).

A young boy hidden up in the orange trees had his own reasons for loving someone like the Queen of Attolia.

She was not queen yet. She was just a princess, but she was the proverbial caged songbird, and he wished he could let her fly.

* * *

Eugenides wasn't known for being kind with his tongue, but Irene had hardly expected it to smart so badly when he implied he didn't care for her way of ruling or love the kind of queen she had to be. If he'd wanted Eddis so badly instead, perhaps he should have stayed there, she thought to herself.

"Oh, you don't love the queen?" she finally asked aloud, the demand raised by those bruising words Eugenides had chosen to defend himself with from her own cutting barbs. She was forever stumbling forward into this odd, half-halting dance with a husband she didn't want to continue to hurt, but what else did her hands know how to do?

He shrugged though, Thief-casual, Thief-sharp eyes lingering on a face that had masked tears and pain and worry and every human emotion for years and years.

"I love you," he said so easily, pierced her with his words, piercing the mask of years and necessities, of royalty.

Under the queen was a young girl who'd danced for the moonlight and the wind rustling leaves and who'd fought and bought her country from thieves and wolves and liars.

Irene. There was still a woman under the crown. Somewhere.

She held out her hand, asking, even demanding he join her in her castle.

But Eugenides rose from the bed, took her hand with his own, and did exactly the wrong thing. He pulled her into his own arms, out from her walls and her reserve, and into the briefest whirling steps of a dance. They drew to a stop and he kissed her hand.

She flushed with the feeling, as if he'd freed her instead.

"My King," she said softly.

He froze, just a moment, then breathed, "My Queen."

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't sure if you'd want this pairing, but your request inspired it, and I hope you don't mind the extra treat.


End file.
